SXSW Interactive Is Dead

"I edit a blog for AOL."

Thus endeth the boy's cred.

VIP? more like STFU.

You start with TEDxs and build a name :)

Hey, Nick.

My netbook wasn't taken at a party, it was taken in the Blogger Lounge, as I said in my post. And I was hardly vague; in fact, you made roughly the same points I did.

But yeah - the conference gets a little more difficult with each year as more and more web app end users and social media fans show up. Thanks for the link back.

He made the same points sure, but then backed them up.

The guy who runs the Gawker tabloid didn't show? Oh dear SXSWi lost all credibility.

Look, who gives a shit about the parties and VIP lounges? Parties are great but ultimately that's all just masturbatory shit to pass the time. If you wanted to talk about the death of the conference you should have critiqued the panels (which you didn't mention at all), not the quality of the CollegeHumor party or whatever stupid shit.

Your criticism of the non-tech commercialism is the only thing that prevents this entry from being totally irredeemable. Anyway, I think you need to live in poverty for a little while and get some fucking perspective rather than pondering whether you're a mid-profile or high-profile blogger, or defending AOL, perhaps the most discredited and marginalized player in the tech world.

Your "Access" section can best be summarized as "It's bigger, I don't feel as close to everyone."

If "Tiered access cuts crowds apart and hurts people's chances of making meaningful interactions" then why did you spend half the night "talking over the fence to my non-VIP friends".

That was a rhetorical question; so you'd feel cool, of course. You're embracing the castes by your holier than thou mentality which is made evident by statements like "the crowd who demands VIP access" and "our circle is now the one putting on the panels and throwing the parties".

Yes, you'll continue to go to sxswi every year to reaffirm the fact that you're a "part of the mid-to-high-profile blogger/media crowd" and that people may or may not be dying to meet you.

You, sir, are a tool. And if anything would make sxsw suck, it's tools. Not sponsors, not crowds, not the entrance fee, not thieves. Tools.

Hey Nick....stay home next year....the event will grow and get along just fine without you. No one is going to miss you. Delete sxsw.com from your book marks. I'm already anticipating a better year next year without your sour old puss moping around in Austin.

Could somebody please explain why people go to this thing?

The reason Burning Man stays awesome is because there is a culture of continuous improvement. The older members of the community teach the virgins what Burning Man is all about, and the next year the virgins are creating something even cooler than their mentors. Everyone knows that it is everyone's responsibility to make the event better each year. Everyone is one-upping one another.

This was my first year at SXSW (I'm still here actually), but I am trying to apply this philosophy. Aside from blogging the hell out of it, my goal is to find one band and actually help them become successful. You can read more about it at adoptaband.tumblr.com.

Think that isn't good enough? One-up me next year.

It sucked 2 years ago. Thanks for catching up.

After standing in ridiculous lines for most of the parties, only to get in and find the spaces impossible to maneuver (not a shocker given the length of the line outside, but yea). We ended just setting up shop at Gingerman most nights and that seemed to be a pretty good formula for us.

Unfortunately, this means that everyone will probably be doing the same thing next year and Gingerman will be slammed wall-to-wall.

Maybe try some tech reporting instead of writing about how your week bar hopping in Austin sucked.

I concur.

When a company called BlackBaud touts their SXSW session on Social Media Expertise I'd say the tech part of the conference is pretty much dead inasmuch as being on any edge whatsoever.

I called it, but mostly in the anonymous cowardly way since someone who employs me is also a customer.

Blog makes for good buzz. See you next year.

Nice link bait title.

As every conference SXSW has its ups and downs, I enjoyed it a lot, and Im eager to come back next year.

Tottaly agree with Kyle's comment.

This is rambling crap that does not go anywhere or say anything. Is there a point in it all other than there were corporate sponsors? Wow, what a profound observation. And Burning Man is still a bunch of ding-dongs in the Black Rock Desert that can't get sponsors. Wow. How important is that!

Earth to Nick - while you are off doing a lame blog about you single opinion you managed to have this years, 20% of the country is out of work and we are stuck in two wars.

Party on, Bro!

As a noob, I heard a great deal from my friends and colleagues about the awesomeness that is supposed to be SXSWi. Frankly, I disappointed. The experience felt watered down, and the presos were filled with self-promoting me monsters and relentless sponsors. I'm not suggesting it was utterly worthless, but sans the former I could have learned a great deal more.

At least this year had the best RVIP Lounge ever, but that supports your point more than it negates it. Our party's name was originally a joke -- get it? a vip lounge at sxsw? funny -- but I have to admit that it takes on a different/sadder meaning when you have to know somebody to get in.

@jv
If you want to stop the unemployment bleeding then the best thing possible is to create a bunch of jobs. Startups create hella jobs, and at its best SXSWi is all about starting new companies.

The three times I've attended SXSWi in the past is what happens outside the sessions and programmed agenda; They "All Hat" party put on by Richard Binhammer is one stellar example.

All these bloggers writing about SXSWi and I haven't read much if anything at all about the content. I have to troll the tech trades for articles about sessions. Were there lots of sessions? Any of them good? Anything smart get said and worth distributing to us folks who didn't see it live?

No offense, but I don't care how many beers you got to drink with the gowalla dudes. Though I'm sure they are lovely people.

I just wish all the bloggers wouldn't have come. It was such a better conference without the wordsmith tards.

Hey, so what about the panels and the speakers?

Bloggers writing about the parties are pathetic compared to the people who go there just for the shindigs, because at least they're enjoying themselves.

The fact that you wrote an entire article about the demise of the scene around the content without mentioning the content sickens me. YOU are part of this demise and every time I see an article like this, it makes me never want to attend SXSW.

Please go back to covering something important.

Nostalgia sucks.

Hard to give a piece like this any credence at all, when it starts out with an unnecessary attack on another blogger whom I happen to respect, and then even sneers at the fact that her laptop was stolen. I think Jolie's piece pretty clearly identified this personality type as part of the problem, with a colorful name, and you've very much proved her point.

This was my 2nd year attending SXSW and I got into every party I wanted to, except twitter (I threw away the dumb wristband on accident).

Sounds like your social engineering skills are the only thing that sucked this year.

The lack of self-awareness in this post is hilarious.

Dude: You MISSED THE POINT OF SXSW. It's not about VIP parties, and the fact that you spent an entire entry lamenting the stratification of the parties and said not a word about the (admittedly mixed bag) content reveals you as a shallow narcissist, standing smugly inside the VIP fence to talk to the poor unfortunate 'friends' still trapped outside it, to the point where you would even take their picture to hold up as an example your 'friend' as one of the 'outsiders.'

With friends like you, pal, with friends like you....stay home next year, and bleat your complaints to yourself.

SXSW was cool **20** years ago. Now it's just some bloated corporate circle jerk.

As someone that has lived in Austin for 10 years, I can tell you all the locals know that SXSW is one big advertisement, money sucking machine that is set up for the industry and not for the fans and normal joes. For real music fans, the real appreciation comes in the form of ACL fest, where we get to enjoy music without the extraordinary fees of sxsw.

We think SXSW is getting kinda snobby, too commercialized and makes going downtown a more painful experience. I'm not sure how it could be compared to Burning Man though? The two are vastly different.

Sounds like your conference has turned into a Saturday night in Hollywood.

Go start a new club and try to stave off the social douches that you attract :P.

Put down your phones, laptops, get off your social media networks. Go out and see real people and find out what socializing is really like. An update on facebook, that no one really cares about but you anyway, is what constitutes a life today. Narcissism and advertising rule our world, but there are still those of us who value real relationships, real people and remember emails and texts aren't like the hearing someones voice.

So basically, you have no real complaints?

Your complaints are.

1) Chevy was a sponsor.
2) Someone poorly ran a party.

Who cares who the sponsors are? Personally, I like getting free beverages when I'm there and there are TONS of relevant companies on the trade show floor, so...

Then yes, no matter what the case, some people are just terrible at throwing parties. How is that a problem with SXSW as a whole?

Overall, I thought the sessions were extremely helpful, it was a great broad-based crowd, bringing input and ideas from a broad sector. In my eyes, it was a great event for socializing, getting business done, and keeping in touch with new/emerging treds/technology.

"So can somebody please tell me, how do I get into TED?" Why, so a few years from now you can whine about that?

Seriously, get over yourself.

How do you get into TED?
You do something bloody useful instead of bitching about attendance surges.
Boo hoo- too many people found about about this cool thing and now I don't feel special.
Guess what? There are only so many cool things in the world and more people are born into it every day. I'm sorry you're older than dirt, but you have to share with us noobs, because we deserve to go to magical places too.
And the swag, real estate and logistic surrounding the throngs of noobs have to be paid for. By corporate shills.
But who cares?
All my heroes and everyone I admire (within reason) speaks either here or at TED- and I have a feeling you'll be speaking at neither.
Ever.

FYI - TED is dead too (i.e. using your logic).

The reason the parties are a big deal is because you can learn at the panels but all your networking is then done at the parties. If you remove this from the equation then you only have the panels which is honestly not enough to justify the price.

I went last year and I went to every single small business panel. Long behold everybody in the crowd had a 5-10 person company and these small business they were talking about was referring to a 40 person agency with 2 offices.

Panels are 50/50 and wont improve your business as much as making the right connection there would.

Whaaa.. The VIP section is just a couch.

Oh well guy.

The REAL Scoop = http://bit.ly/a3S4sb

Assholes On Line

Whiny whiny, bitchy bitchy.

My vote goes with teh STFU comment.

If you want music, go to Glastonbury instead.

unfortunately, sxswi is only about the parties. a few years back, it was about the parties and the panels. the panels don't mean shit now. the only reason people come is to bullshit (network) and party. hence....the big ass parties and all the crap that goes with them.

it used to be more tech heavy and while i've never been a fan of panels for learning, you used to hear great insight from some of the industry leaders.

the problem is now there are people with little to no tech background pushing their products. sxsw got greedy and let anyone pay their way to becoming a panelist. the luster has worn off...but hey....who wants to come to the cool party. after all, isn't that what every nerd wants?

it's too big now. the greed has taken over. they just need to tone it down a bit. either that or it will become generic.

I stopped attending SXSWi when the panels went from Ivan Stang and the Church of Scientology to How do we make more money! Back then it was more amenable to parties and socializing and making contacts and not for profit, necessarily, but for collaboration and ideas, and sure, to get a beer with later. I do see your point about the tradeshows, but I'd have to agree that talking about the over-capacity parties is a bit whiney. IF they were really about interacting during the interactive, there wouldnt be all these bands blaring over your conversation.
Austinites have made similar complaints about what they call the "Californication" of Austin in general, following a similar pattern of SXSW. To them I say grow up because Austin is (growing up).
Just sayin.

Another brilliant editorial from SF's finest newspaper.

We're sorry you didn't get to go down on @ev while you were slacking it up in the VIP, senior.

I can't wait to read more of what you decide to type.

Wanker.

I'll confess, I'm the face of the socially excluded, as @bmorrissey put it. Thanks for making me relive the pain.

I was a first-timer at SXSWi this year so I have no reference for earlier years.

I expected a lot from the panels, hell I expected at minimum they would align somewhere with the title/description listed in the program. They were geared towards social media idol worshippers & people who were there because they recently discovered the phrase social media. Quite a lot of Fisher-Price information - "My 1st Interactive Conference."

Whomever assigned the rooms for the panels needs to get a clue on what attendees may or may not want to attend as I shouldn't find myself with literally 100 other people unable to get in to a panel even though we arrived 30 minutes before the panel even started while the panel next door was a ghost town.

The parties weren't any different than any other BS conference 'networking' events are. Not sure why this was a shock to you. You can choose to make them what you want. I was able to actually have great conversations at a few of them but then I was more focused on that than crying 'poor little rich girl' while I gorged on the attention.

I agree there were quite a lot of people there name dropping in their tweets like they were getting paid to do so... but hate to break it to ya, most of the people doing that were VIPs such as ahem... yourself.

In the end I listened a lot & walked away with better approaches to pitching a project, connections that I can bounce future ideas off of, potential partner ideas I hadn't even thought of & I'll admit, a bit of a hangover... :)

I never thought I'd see anyone again like the bitchy dotcom tools who whined and complained and rambled on about how important and deserving they are of perks and special treatment - especially at industry functions/conventions - while at the same time actually producing nothing of value. Bubbles of hot nothing do not count. Congratulations, you all filled the void left behind by the "talent" set adrift from Worldcom, pets.com, and anyone who did a whiny post at fuckedcompany.com before 2001 with social media bullcrap. Retweet that.

Hey @nick I've got a great idea for what ails you RE #SXSWi. Stay home next year and treat yourself like a VIP. Texas doesn't need you. I'd bet $100 you will be back because SXSWi is the baddest interactive event of the year.

SFWeekly wastes space on their site so @nick can bitch about not being treated like a VIP at SXSWi? All I got out of this article is a feeling of embarrassment for SFWeekly.

@giovanni

RE egoiste:
"I stopped attending SXSWi when the panels went from Ivan Stang and the Church of Scientology to How do we make more money!"

I think you are referring to Reverend Stang's Church of the SubGenius, a church founded with the sole purpose of making a profit and offering "Eternal Salvation or TRIPLE Your Money Back!"

Like everyone else said - it's all about the content of the panels/sessions! There's a community on Lunch.com with some cool reviews to read & add on to - http://lunch.com/SXSW

I did sxsw film.. I had a blast. yea some events were hard to get into.. but I didnt go for party.. I didn't go to to get my ego stroked. I just went to see the films.
I saw some seriously great flicks.

Kick-ass - loads of fun
Get low - awesome experience..
Tucker and Dale vs evil - hysterical
Thunersoul - very touching
Hubbel 3d - just wow

and more..

Praise Bob!

Wow you are so full of yourself it really is not funny. Sorry, but SXSWi is what you make it to be. If you are dumb enough to go to the really large parties, that is your own fault. Had plenty of great lunches with big names, sat in on great conversations, lunches, dinners, etc. with panelists every day of the event. Guess what! There were no fences, no limited access, nothing. How was most of this arranged? twitter, sms, and simply walking up to panelists and introducing yourself and asking them if they had plans for lunch, dinner, a good conversation. Who knows, maybe that means I am more of a someone than you, though I don't really know who you are, so oh well.

Good luck, and I hope you don't show up at SXSWi next year, just one less person whining that they did not have as much fun as in the past... Sorry but there are a lot of us that are having just as much,if not more fun each year. Ignore the marketing, and the VIP shit and focus on the people, unless you are simply not a person that can do that any more. You are NEVER entitled to anything, you need to earn it each time, and once you learn that, you will have more fun.

I've attended every SXSWi minus one and I'm on the advisory board for the Interactive and Music sessions (the conference side of things) -- I say that so you can take all of what I'm about to say with a grain of salt :)

The same things have been said every year, and while there are certainly some valid criticisms, the party life at SXSW has never been what this conference is about.

Check out the Accelerator (which I emcee'd - sorry, but it is still a great event with 32 start-ups pitching) or the Web Dev track or the Workshops. There's much substance but it involves, as I was taught long ago, getting off your ass and knocking on doors. Stories don't just come to you.

I was at Wired and Wired News during the dotcom (and Technology Review during the mid-aughts); I understand the feeling of the closed-knit community in the Bay Area. I quite enjoyed my reporting time there. But understand that SXSW is curated by the crowd and that means the so-called "Web celebs" are just like everyone else. It's hard sometimes to deal with, but once you understand that - the conference becomes quite amazing.

I exchanged a few emails and such with Jolie today (http://www.thebradking.com/2010/03/17/why-the-people-who-hate-on-sxsw-interactive-suck-47-of-90/) about her piece and her concerns. We're going to talk more when she's back home and settled. Because at it's heart, Interactive is about conversations -- not declarations.

If you have some legitimate concerns about how the conference is assembled, I'm preparing a post-mortem for the SXSW Interactive crew. I'd love to hear your thoughts. Any ideas and criticisms are welcome + I'd love to pass them along.

The hipsters ruin everything.

Good, stay home. One less hipster douchebag making my commute home from work interminable.

No, absolutely, totally wrong.

Burning Man hasn't been cool for years.

i like your usage of phrases like 'this is not sour grapes!'

when it really is, in fact, sour grapes.

it's just like me saying 'no disrespect intended, but you're a moron.'

you are a moron.

So your argument is that Nick Denton doesn't show up? Are we all striving to be Nick? Is this a scumbag media publishers event or a internet interactive event? And parties that are being hosted by other folks don't have anything to do with SXSW, if they do and the sponsor wants a VIP area I would assume that they get one. Why don't you make a pact to contribute as much as you take and perhaps you won't have to waste time writing about how SXSW is dead. Don't show up next year and the event will have one less "taker."

This guy sounds like a douche.

SXSWi, bah. The cool kids were out in Vegas at MIX10 dissing Microsoft's new lame-ass phone platform and its joke of an SDK.

Boo hoo...hopefully you won't be moving to Austin. But we do appreciate your yearly boon to our economy.

:)

SXSW was cool 20 years ago. Now it's just a bloated, corporate circle jerk.

Your blog is about Austin during SXSWi, not about SXSWi. It's a tech conference. Did you even go? Yes, the parties sucked. As did some of the panels. But, some of the workshops, talks and panels were fab. And, while you were annoyed for having to wait in line at the too packed hip parties, the pubs and hotel lounges were hosting some mighty fine mini-parties with wonderful conversation between brilliant people.

Yes, swimming like a fish upstream at the convention center kinda sucked, but you can get out of SXSWi what you put into it.

This guy sounds like a douche.